Tuesday, 10 April 2012

I ride a Nihola trike and have done for about four years now. It's what I do the school run on and, aside from the harshest day in winter, I use it instead of the car for around town.

I will do a review on the Nihola soon, just haven't yet. I don't know why I just never seem to get down to it even though I love my Nihola more than is decent.

When my eldest got to eight years old, I thought it was about time she started to ride her own bike to school. Except. I wasn't really ready for her to ride her own bike to school. I mean, she can ride, beautifully (we are Islabike fans) but we tend to let her ride mostly off road or just meander along. As a parent I realise you take all sorts of risks you're comfortable with. I co-sleep with my children, which some consider a risk. I pick them up when they cry, which some consider a risk (that they will turn into monsters and be forever crying just to be picked up). I let them feed themselves, which some would worry about (the choking). I don't Dettox everything and let them eat things that have fallen onto the floor (at home) and don't always insist they wash their hands. I let them climb walls and trees. And I let my children use screens: iPads, computers etc. All of which some parents consider risky, irresponsible behaviour.

But I'm comfortable with all of that.

I'm not, however, comfortable with letting my eldest cycle to school, yet. So I thought a trailer bike was in order. You know the things? They hook up to the back of a normal bike, so the child gets a sense of being in traffic, she cycles, so gets valuable exercise (and believe me, this is a help when you're cycling a Nihola with another child already in the box trailer up front) but is totally attached to the adult.

I'd written about tagalongs a while ago and done a lot of research. So I knew that the tagalong bike I wanted had to fit onto the pannier rack at the back of the adult bike, not onto the seat-post (the people I really listen to in cycling, none of them recommend that latter sort of fixing tagalong as it compromises the stability of the adult bike). The problem was that the only tagalong that did this was the Burley Piccolo which had gone out of production and second hand ones were fetching silly money on eBay.

The fabulous Islabikes used to do a trailer bike (I use the term tagalong and trailer bike interchangeably, they are the same thing), but I rang and spoke to Isla herself who told me that although she would probably do them again, there was a problem with sourcing one of the components and for the moment, she wasn't making any new ones. A visit to eBay showed me that her trailer bikes were also exchanging hands for about the price of what they'd cost new.

So I was stuck. Then I rang Brixton Cycles and spoke to the fabulous Barnaby who has always been super helpful and straight down the line honest with what he recommends, even if he doesn't sell it. And he told me about Roland add-a-bikes which fix onto the back rack and are sold by Bikes and Trailers.

I think it was Sean I spoke to and the service was excellent.

So I got one and it is brilliant. I can't comment too much on the stability because of course, my Nihola is a trike. But it comes with its own pannier back rack (so if you already have one, you'll have to take it off) and the actual bike slots into the back quite easily. You can take it off if you do the school run and leave it there and then re-fix it when you pick up in the afternoon.

I umm-ed and ahh-ed about getting one with gears (it comes in 3 or 7 gear versions), or not. In the end I decided not to to keep the cost down. The one extra I did get (retrospectively, but wish I'd got it before) was the kick (two-legged) stand. It's really useful if you regularly taken the trailer bike off and it has to stand on its own, because it can't stand on its own otherwise...I hesitated because it's not cheap at £34 but some things are just really useful and you have to bite the bullet.

If you were to transfer this bike from one adult bike to the other regularly, then you'd really need to also get the extra back rack. You can't use the Add a Bike without it.

Just to add to this: I spoke to Isla last week to ascertain what was happening with her trailer bike, before I wrote this blog post. She told me she had no immediate plans to re-introduce it but it's something she would think about doing in the future. She did however tell me that the Burley Piccolo is going back into production. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, we cycle to school now looking like a giant cycle crocodile. My youngest in the front in the Nihola box, me on the Nihola and my eldest on the back. The Nihola box allows me space for one more child and lots of shopping...who needs the gym.

One important point to add (thanks Claire), it's not relevant for me with all the passenger space, but you can still use this tagalong and fit a child seat on the back of the adult bike. If you look at the Bikes and Trailers website you can see.

6 comments:

I absolutely LOVE this idea so much - but it's far too expensive for me. :( I'll have to look into alternatives or maybe just stick to cycling with Mia in parks. Like you, I do a lot of things with wild abandon (i.e. everything you listed) but won't let Mia cycle on her own near traffic yet. Jack's absolutely fine, but Mia's still very wobbly - and is only 4, after all. May look into trailers that will fit both girls. Have any recommendations? xx

It is expensive Lisa but remember you can sell second hand for a good percentage of what you paid for it. That's the way I justify it!!! I missed a 3 gear Add a Bike that went for nearly £200!

As for trailers - I linked to a piece I wrote about them. Really something like the Burleys is best if you have a bike to attach them too and want versatility. Or a tandem with a child back, but not cheap at all.

Hi Annalisa, we tweeted about this a while ago and we now have one too! I bought it directly from Bikes and Trailers and it seems to be doing the tick on a standard bike. Hadn't thought about the child seat possibility but that's a good point. My son is very into it. Thanks Jessica